‘There are five pre-vocational courses and only two are currently taking
part in the pilot. Learners on the other three courses are already asking,
“Why can’t we do this?”’
Robert Brown, Core and Employability Skills tutor, Dumfries and Galloway College

The online nature of the WordPress tool has proved flexible and
customisable. Practitioners have taken full advantage of this
potential, encouraging learners to express their own individual
identities through the look and feel of their e-portfolios.
Presentations of employability skills in preparation for the
workplace are customised, for example, by adding additional
pages and categories, and by uploading images and video files
to demonstrate particular achievements. These opportunities
for creativity have enthused both learners and practitioners.

Reassessing e-portfolios
Practitioners involved in the initial ISLE project reported
that the implementation of e-portfolios improved the
motivation of their learners. An introductory course in
construction recorded an increase in retention of 30%
on the previous year, while retention in computing classes
rose to 100%.

The eventual aim is for the WordPress system to become
the one-stop shop for all learning-related and PDP activities.
Essential learning resources such as timetables, lesson
objectives and plans, and support and revision materials have
been uploaded and developmental work undertaken to link
to student administrative systems from the WordPress tool,
so that learner data can be imported under course codes.
Plans are also in hand to add learners’ individual learning
plans (ILPs) to the system.

Although direct causative links cannot be established
between using e-portfolio systems and improved
performance – the successes outlined in this case study
may be due to the enthusiasm of practitioners taking part in
the pilot – favourable learner evaluations have nonetheless
helped to win the interest of those who did not take part
initially. Dumfries and Galloway College is finding that
demand for the e-portfolio system now extends across a
range of curriculum areas, and that more practitioners
are engaging in e-learning in general.

Practitioners undertake seven weeks of two-hour training
sessions before cascading their skills on to others in their
department and introducing e-portfolio use in their courses.
A practitioner-support blog then provides ongoing
opportunities for sharing resources and exchanging tips.

Read more about practitioners’ perspectives
on e-portfolios in the e-Portfolios infoKit:
www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/e-portfolios/
practitioner

‘A major lesson we have found
is that the support blogs and
e-portfolios cannot be introduced
during an academic year. If you do
this, success is not as great as when
you introduce them at induction’

Key points for effective practice
Encourage the personalisation of e-portfolios to
motivate and engage learners